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Suburbs of Korea Virtually Crime Free

kpride, Nov. 21, 2014, 9:34 a.m.

Fifteen townships, including Chorwon, Gangwon Province, Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang Province and Jangsu in North Jeolla Province saw not a single murder or theft last year. No rapes were reported in Yeongyang, North Gyeongsang Province, while Ulleung, also in that province, reported the lowest incidents of crime in the nation.

The findings come from 2013 crime data obtained from police. They show that Ulleung had the lowest crime rate in the nation with 194 cases. The types of crimes listed include murder, burglary, rape, theft and assault, gambling and fraud.

There were only six cases of theft reported in Ulleung last year, contrasting starkly with other parts of the nation. The island on the East Sea is famously said to have no snakes, no pollution and no thieves and the statistics bear that out.

The next lowest crime rates were in Jangsu, North Jeolla Province (385 crimes), Yeongyang, North Gyeongsang Province (390), Jinan, North Jeolla Province (478) and Yanggu, Gangwon Province (514). Their crime rate was 20 times lower than the average 8,801 cases in other parts of the nation.

Lee Soon-rae of the Korean Criminological Association said, "Burglaries and murder occur usually due to conflicts between people, but such conflicts are rare in farming communities and the residents usually know each other well, so there is a high degree of vigilance toward outsiders. This tight-knit community structure seems to play a strong role in preventing crime."